I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 15

Odette smirked as she spoke, deliberately provoking him.

“Adopt me as your daughter and marry me off to Lord Caesar. Of course, you’ll have to provide a dowry.”

“If I take you as my adopted daughter. I wouldn’t have to pay any alimony. And it wouldn’t be seen as swapping a maid for my real daughter, either.”

“Exactly.”

“You scheming little—! Trying to secure both wealth and status at the same time?”

Count Anderson, who loved money more than anything, clutched at his hair in frustration, clearly reluctant to part with a single coin. But he would have no choice.

Odette’s determined gaze made the count groan.

“Fine. I’ll give you ten million gold.”

“That’s too little.”

In truth, Odette felt like her heart might stop from sheer nerves.

“T-ten million is too little?”

“Yes.”

She lowered her gaze to hide the excitement bubbling inside her. If she looked him in the eye, she might accidentally reveal how absurdly high she already found that sum.

A maid’s monthly wage was fifty silver. Since one hundred silver made one gold, she would have to work for two full months just to earn a single gold.

Ten million gold was an amount Odette could never dream of touching in her lifetime.

But money wasn’t the only thing she was demanding. This was also revenge for nearly being poisoned to death. She wasn’t going to settle for anything less than what she deserved.

“Lord Caesar plans to demand fifty million gold in alimony from Lady Amelia.”

“Is that so?”

The count’s mustache twitched.

What was that reaction? He looked… relieved?

Was fifty million gold not enough to put a dent in his finances?

She decided to push further.

“Multiply that by seven.”

“What?”

“The marriage lasted for seven years. He’s planning to charge fifty million for every year they were together.”

“That lunatic!”

Count Anderson slammed his fist onto the desk, cursing.

It seemed she had struck the right nerve.

“Three hundred fifty million gold in alimony would be difficult for you to handle, wouldn’t it? So why not give me a clean one hundred million instead?”

The moment she said the number, her heart pounded so hard it made her dizzy.

But as she recalled the moment the count had wrapped his hands around her throat, her mind grew terrifyingly calm.

“How much more time do you need to think about it?”

Odette’s sharp tone made Count Anderson groan as he tore at his hair. He looked around, as if trying to calculate his options.

“Seventy million…”

“Goodbye.”

Without hesitation, she turned to leave the study, but the count quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

“Fine! Eighty million.”

“One hundred.”

“Ninety—”

“Ugh!”

Odette scowled, and Count Anderson’s face twisted in distress.

“Fine! One hundred! But in return, you have to forget all the… unpleasant things I may have done to you in the past. Understood, my daughter?”

Unpleasant things?

He had tried to kill her twice, and he was calling that unpleasant?

“Steward! Bring a lawyer—we need to draft the adoption papers.”

Steward Jovern glanced at Odette with visible unease before speaking.

“My lord, I don’t think it’s wise to adopt her based on her words alone. Perhaps you should meet with Count Caesar Maes first before making a decision.”

Odette immediately seized on the idea.

“That’s a great idea. Send the steward himself to meet with Lord Caesar and ask his opinion.”

“M-me?”

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid you’ll end up like Mary, killed by his sword?”

Judging by the way Jovern paled, he hadn’t even known Mary was dead.

“Sh-she’s dead?”

“Yes.”

“How… how did she die?”

“By the sword.”

Jovern shuddered violently in terror.

Odette shrugged.

“Oh, and I almost forgot—I never got around to telling Lord Caesar that you ordered my death and funeral.”

“I-I’ll fetch the lawyer immediately!”

Jovern fled the study as though his life depended on it.

Odette found herself once again in Amelia’s bedroom, pacing as she took in the familiar space.

She had been locked up here, unaware of whether it was day or night, slowly succumbing to exhaustion. It was in this very room that she had dreamed of Amelia.

“Dekan Kingdom is beautiful! I should have come sooner. Oh my! What is that delicious-looking dish? And this hotel—it’s amazing!”

While Odette had been left to die, Amelia had been enjoying a lavish vacation, sailing on a luxury cruise and arriving at the Dekan Kingdom. She had gone shopping, bought a wide-brimmed hat, and twirled in elegant, flowing dresses. She had indulged in fine dining at a grand hotel.

Meanwhile, Odette had been gasping for air, her throat parched, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.

The dark stains on the marble rug—blood and tears she had shed as she clung to life.

She would never allow herself to be trampled on like that again.

“First, I need to piece together the original storyline.”

If she could anticipate the key moments in the plot, she could prepare accordingly.

Moving to the adjacent sitting room, she retrieved a pen and paper, listing out the major turning points in the heroine’s story. She circled the second event.

“Amelia swore she would do anything for Caesar. And at that point… she did this?”

Amelia had returned to her family’s estate to uncover Count Anderson’s weaknesses.

Odette needed to do the same.

The count had committed countless crimes; it wouldn’t be difficult to find damning evidence.

She had unrestricted access to the estate and even knew of secret passageways.

Even if she planned to escape, there were still things she needed to take care of before leaving.

She wanted to see the smug count’s face crumble in despair.

A crisp, fresh scent of the forest filled her lungs. When she opened her eyes, she saw the sky through the swaying leaves of the trees.

She had only meant to close her eyes for a moment in Amelia’s bedroom, but now she was in the forest.

“Another dream?”

Something creaked against her back. Turning around, she saw a wooden swing.

“This is…!”

It was the swing her mother had made for her when she was little.

Lifting her gaze, she saw the small cottage at the foot of the hill—her childhood home.

“Mother?”

A desperate hope surged in her chest. What if her mother was inside?

Her feet moved before she could think.

She missed her so much. She wanted nothing more than to collapse into her embrace and sob.

She wanted to tell her how hard it had been after she was gone. How lonely she had been. How she had been beaten and strangled, forced to stare death in the face.

No. She couldn’t say any of that.

It would only sadden her mother.

She needed to be strong, to reassure her. She had to smile, to lie if necessary, and say she had lived a happy life.

“Mother!”

She reached the cottage and threw the door open.

Dust coated the furniture in thick layers. The once-cozy bedding had decayed into tattered rags. The fireplace was cold and lifeless. Mice scurried away at the sudden intrusion.

The place had been abandoned for a long time.

Tears welled up in Odette’s eyes as the fragile hope of seeing her mother again shattered.

“Odette, after the darkest night, a brilliant morning will come. I bless your future, which will shine brighter than anyone else’s.”

She had forgotten. Those were her mother’s last words before she passed away.

Mother, this feels like the darkest night.

Her longing for her mother made her vision blur with tears.

“The brightest moment of my life was when I was with you. If only I could go back…”

If she hadn’t wandered too far while picking wild berries, her mother wouldn’t have worried so much.

If she hadn’t begged to move to the village below the mountain like other children, things might have been different.

Every time she had pleaded to live in a town with bakeries and carriages, her mother had stroked her hair with a sorrowful expression.

“One day, you will live in such a place.”

Her mother must have known back then that she wouldn’t live much longer. How much pain must she have felt, thinking about the future where her little daughter would be left to survive on her own?

A broken sob escaped Odette’s lips.

She wept for a long time, wishing she could stay in this dream, hoping she could repair the cabin and live here alone.

Then, suddenly, she lifted her head. The sound of approaching hoofbeats grew closer.

Through the dusty window, she caught sight of a knight clad in armor, walking toward the forest.

Who could that be?

Had she ever met a knight like that in the past? No matter how hard she tried to recall, there was no such memory.

That was when it struck her—this dream might not be a fragment of her own past.

Could it be that she had entered this knight’s subconscious?

She hadn’t touched his belongings before falling asleep, nor had she tried to glimpse someone else’s memories.

But there was one undeniable fact—the knight knew her mother.

If he had come all the way to pay his respects at her grave, then he must have shared a deep connection with her.

Perhaps he even knew the things her mother had never told her—her true status, or even the identity of her father.

Odette hurried out of the cabin, chasing after the knight’s retreating figure.

He had climbed the hill and now stood still, bowing his head.

When he straightened, there were wildflowers in his hands.

Who on earth was this knight?

“Great Saintess,” he murmured.

Taking a few more steps, he gently placed the flowers at her mother’s grave.

Then, without hesitation, he began to pull out the tangled weeds that had overgrown around the site.

In mere moments, the grave was cleared of debris.

Wiping away the sweat that dripped down his face, he ran his fingers over the wooden grave marker and spoke again.

“When will my trials finally end? And when will my fate finally find me?”

His voice, though firm, still carried the unmistakable tone of a young man—someone on the brink of adulthood.

Caesar?

The knight let out a quiet sigh before murmuring, “If I survive the war, I will return. And once I discover who took your Odette from you… I will kill them.”

He turned around.

Dark hair, striking blue eyes as sharp as the winter sky. Arrogant, yet breathtakingly beautiful.

Familiar, yet unfamiliar.

“Lord Caesar.”

The deep blue-black hair, the icy, piercing gaze. The way his features had yet to fully mature—he looked unmistakably like a boy, not yet the man she knew.

“How do you know my mother?”

“Do you know me?” he asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

“You just spoke to my mother’s grave. You said you would kill those who took Odette from her. I am Odette.”

Odette pressed a trembling hand against her chest.

Caesar’s lips curled in amusement.

“What a ridiculous claim. The Odette Ballen I am searching for is a seven-year-old child.”

“You know my full name.”

The first time they had met, Caesar had called her by her full name without hesitation. She had thought it strange then, but now it made sense.

Caesar had met her mother before.

But when?

The only visitors to the cabin she remembered were hunters passing through.

So why couldn’t she recall ever meeting Caesar?

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t know who I am,” she said firmly. “That’s not what’s important right now.”

What mattered was that she had somehow entered Caesar’s past memories.

That was the real mystery.

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